Our Future is Now

This curriculum unit was designed with the hope that my students will learn about new ideas while getting excited about literature and also that they will start to look at life around them through a critical lens. The movie, the novels, the short stories and the activities are aimed at exploring how different societies work. The students will be evaluating the society we live in and compare it to the utopian societies depicted in the works they will be analyzing. Since the unit takes an interdisciplinary approach, students will not only master interpreting various genres, but also get acquainted with different ideologies and address philosophical questions about justice, purpose and moral responsibility. During these discussions students will be actively working on their critical thinking, communication and problem solving skills. They will have a chance to improve their collaborative and creative thinking skills during the final project. In this, the students will have to demonstrate their understanding of how the different factors of society interact by creating and presenting their own utopian society. After finishing this unit, I hope my students will realize that they are actively creating the future and that they will take responsibility in their actions by understanding how it affects the world around them.

Introduction

“You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for our own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.”1

I think I must be getting older (all right, more experienced) because I have noticed that I have been looking at the content we need to teach from a much broader angle and the outcome through very different lenses. When I started my career as an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher, my main focus was to teach the students the language itself: words, grammar rules, pronunciation and sentence structure. The instruction was driven by the set state curriculum with some deviance on my part to address the needs of my particular students. Today I am still following the state standards, but I am trying not to make those the driving forces of my units. I believe that students can learn making inferences, drawing conclusions, comparing and contrasting or making predictions without us putting these terms on the board as the objective of our lessons. I find that when there are meaningful (meaning that students can personally relate to them) questions to be answered or tasks to be performed, students are more engaged and acquire the above-mentioned skills more easily. I tend to base my curriculum on overarching themes which address different areas of life from multiple viewpoints so that students can take away a message that can shape their lives.

We need to bring content objectives and personal experiences closer. In a study Karen A. Franck expresses her concern about the distance between the actions taken and one’s experiences: “The objectification of knowledge includes an objectification of the world: it is divided into separate classes of objects, with their connections, and their rich range of possible meanings reduced.”2 This, unfortunately, is true of our education system as well. We teach math, social studies, science, language arts, philosophy, arts, music (if a child is lucky to be offered to take such classes) separately which makes it even harder for students to realize how interconnected everything in our life is. I am a firm believer of integrated studies and feel fortunate that as an English Language Arts teacher I actually have a way of making it happen by incorporating history, geography, arts and music when teaching literature.

Background

I would like to tell you about the students I had in mind when planning this curriculum unit. The school I am teaching at is a Title 1 school in the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System and is located in a socio-economically challenged area of Charlotte. I am going to include some data, which I do believe have to be interpreted carefully. At the same time, I do know they might be indicative of certain tendencies and definitely help you get an idea of some aspects of this institution. 93% of the students get free or reduced lunch. 11.8% of the students have some kind of learning disability and 21.5% have Limited English Proficiency Status. This last number is partly explained by the diversity of the student population: 58.1% African-American, 3.1% white, 2.4% Asian, 34% Hispanic, 0.3% American Indian and 2.1% multiracial.

Until this year our school was a middle school, but this year we added the first 9th grade class by keeping last year’s 8th graders at the school. I was very excited about the news, because this way I have a chance to teach 9th grade English to my ESL students. Yes, I teach ESL to some fabulous kids from different parts of the world. I feel very fortunate to be able to work with such a diverse group. To be more precise, I have an 8th grade Language Arts class with 17 Hispanic and African students and a 9th grade English class with 10 Hispanic and Asian students. Just to make our group more interesting, I am from Budapest, Hungary, and as thus someone who speaks English as a second language. I believe that my background helps me better understand their daily conflicts, the challenges they face adjusting to their new lifestyle, new expectations, adapting to an unknown culture and learning a new language. I can sympathize with them when they miss their family and their familiar routines and I’m trying to help them through the harder days. I also aim at making them realize that sometimes their perceived disadvantages actually work as advantages over their native peers. They have a different appreciation of the world around them and even though they often feel like outsiders, they have to be aware of the values of their heritage.

Objective

Nowadays, whenever we are asked to define our objectives we are supposed to include the core standards and some 21st century skills. It seems like we always have some kind of magic notion to follow. Don’t get me wrong: I do believe that it is important to know why we are teaching certain concepts and how the students will be able to make use of them. However, these are technicalities. I teach English language and literature and when I set my goals, I take a more traditional approach. For me literature is a never-ending expedition, with all its beauties and sufferings, during which we learn, think, fall in love, get furious, stop and ponder, daydream, laugh or sob, get immersed in a different world and become a different person. I would like to set these as an objective. My ultimate goal is to get my students addicted to reading so that their lives can be enriched by all the different worlds that open up for them.

To be more concrete, the ideas I want my students to explore will include a variety of notions ranging from ones that they are familiar with in certain areas to others that they probably haven’t had to think about until now. One concept that we will look at is responsibility: responsibility for ourselves, our family, strangers and the environment. I would like them to think of themselves as important agents of our present and future society. We are going to look at the aspects of individual vs. community or society by exploring the society we live in and the tendencies that can lead to a certain path toward the future. We are going to read about past societies and utopias. I find it very important to take an interdisciplinary approach whenever we can, so I am going to incorporate the study of different ideologies as well as discussions of different art forms as they relate to our subject. This aspect makes this unit appropriate for Social Studies, History or Philosophy classes and certain parts of it can also be incorporated into Arts classes.

The concepts that we have our main focus on lend themselves to developing the students’ critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills. The activities that I planned also require the students to analyze, evaluate and apply their knowledge in a creative way, while we are covering the objectives of the core standards.

Rationale

Why do I want my student to do this unit? Since it was my choice it clearly has something to do with me. It is rooted partly in my avid interest in sociology and my fear of the downward spiral of humanity. No, I am not a pessimist. I do believe that humanity has a chance; we just need to keep learning and caring. Heart and intelligence rule! I notice the good examples around me, but I also see some alarming signs that we have to be aware of. Life should not be only about competition and individual success, which are often promoted in the easily consumable TV shows. Shows with valuable messages seem to be harder to grasp, require deeper understanding and time to digest. Most kids in our school choose to watch programs that don’t inspire thinking about “big” questions and when it comes to picking up a book, again they elect to read “fun” novels. There is nothing wrong with that as long as there is a balance and they do get exposed to ideas that require some in-depth exploration. This is where our responsibility lies. Also we shouldn’t forget that kids are intrinsically curious: we just have to make sure that this curiosity stays with them for the rest of their lives. They also have an opinion about the world around them, which needs to be heard and at times altered by giving the students opportunities to dig into those matters.

Apart from my anecdotal data for the need of raising social consciousness, there are various studies that point in the same direction. In his article, “Teaching Utopia,” Arthur B. Shostak is quoting the 1999 UCLA Annual Survey of incoming students to point out that young adults avoid “any commitment to social activism” and that “the percent who thought it important to ‘influence social values’ reached the lowest level since 1986.” They also showed a lack of interest in becoming a leader in the community. In his 2010 survey, he found that only 10% of his students thought “the world would be a better place with another two-thirds uncertain.”3

Edward W. Gondolf (Professor of Sociology) addresses the same problem in his article, “Teaching About Utopian Societies” stating some aspects of a “loss of community.” He says: “Increased mobility, the mass media, national political movements, and a corporate economy have, to varying degrees, subsumed much of our local self-determination, group interaction, and sense of identity. Consequently, much of the population has been set adrift fending for themselves in what Philip Slater (1976) termed famously ‘the pursuit of loneliness’.” 4 Another valuable book, The Real American Dream, points out that the absence of utopianism is “the root of our modern melancholy” since we are surrounded by “unprecedented wealth” but lack meaning. 5

Exploring different societies, ideologies, goals and ideals of various communities can present our students with new kind of meaning and understanding that also inspires them to use their imagination to create. “Fantasy is not merely an interior process [..]. It is a way of being in the world and giving back to the soul of the world.”6

I think my students will learn a lot by comparing and contrasting different ideologies that they encounter in the books and movies we are going to work with. I want them to become independent thinkers and see what is really important in life by showing them different alternatives of our present society. Given that all my students came from different countries and have memories of a somewhat (or very much) different cultural, political and socio-economic environment, they will be able to relate to some of the notions that might be strange to a student who never lived in another country. This will give them a chance to relate to our readings on a more personal level and hopefully make them get involved and interested in the activities.

Strategies

I have planned this unit for high school students; however, I believe that 8th grade students can benefit from it as well. Since the books we are going to read cover serious issues, a certain level of maturity and background knowledge is necessary for the unit to be successful. Of course with appropriate modifications parts of the unit can be used with younger students as well.

The strategies I am going to use are partly defined by the learning model that is being utilized at our school. All the teachers are required to plan and deliver their lessons according to the best practices of an interactive teaching model called Learning-Focused. “The Learning-Focused model is a framework for planning and delivering instruction using exemplary practices with a focus on learning.” (The Learning-Focused Notebook, 2005) Just to provide you some insight on how it works, I am going to summarize it in a nutshell. Teachers utilize data-driven instruction that requires students to use their higher order thinking skills and is aimed at 100% student involvement. Teachers develop so-called “Acquisition Lesson Plans,” which might cover multiple days, depending on how much time is needed to cover the given content. The teacher’s role is more similar to that of a facilitator, who works as a catalyst, significantly reducing lecture time. The units/lessons are planned around an Essential Question, which represents an objective in the prioritized curriculum. There are separate Essential Questions for the unit and for the lessons and the students are expected to be able to answer them by the end of the lesson or unit. As a must-have, each lesson has to contain at least three Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Questions. Since student involvement is key, every lesson starts with an Activating Strategy that links the content to be taught to the students’ prior knowledge and also motivates the learner.

Other strategies that have to be present are Graphic Organizers, Structured Note Taking, Guided Reading and Writing, Study and Summarizing Tools and Visual Models. Using these strategies is non-negotiable. It really makes sense and I believe that every good teacher uses all these without following or even knowing about this model. What makes it stand out is that all the teachers at the school utilize the Learning-Focused model which gives the students a sense of uniformity, making it easier for them to meet the expectations.

My philosophy is that everybody can excel in something. Unfortunately, the present education system does not make it easy for non-traditional students to shine. In my view too much emphasis is placed on academic excellence, meaning that a student is considered successful only if he or she can do math, read or write at the expected level. Do not get me wrong: I do believe that these are very important skills; however, being able to create and having skills at different crafts or being able to perform is equally important. It really saddens me when I hear about elective classes that are being cut just to add some more math or literacy classes. Since students (children and adults) have a better chance to excel when we are addressing different learning styles, I find it imperative to engage all the multiple intelligences that students possess. I like to provide instruction that is easily accessible by students with a stronger auditory, visual, kinesthetic, tactile or social-interpersonal learning style. Apart from this approach being very effective, it also makes the lesson more fun for both the students and the teacher.

You will also see that there are strategies incorporated in my unit that address the needs of English Language Learners. For different reasons, most of my students are on 2nd and 3rd grade reading level. Of course when you have a conversation with them they almost sound as if they were native speakers of English. Their listening and speaking skills are far more advanced than their literacy skills. Naturally we don’t want that to completely stop them from learning about more advanced topics, so I use a lot of audio-visual support and scaffolding pre-activities. Understandably their vocabulary is more limited than what their native speaker peers possess so they have to work hard to bridge that gap. For this end I have planned a lot of vocabulary building activities.

In spite of my preference of real books to e-books and face-face workshops to webinars, I do appreciate technology. I understand my students’ addiction to the internet, Facebook, and other social networking sites, since I’m no exception either. You just cannot say no to getting information, and for now this is the quickest and most convenient way to get it. In this unit we are going to use laptops to search for and share information and also to create electronic products. We are using Edmodo as our networking site and students are going to create posters, cartoons and presentations using different websites and programs.

The Unit

As I have mentioned before, one of the main concepts that is in the center of this unit is responsibility: knowing the weight and importance of our decisions and actions and how they affect our closer and wider community. We are going to dissect, analyze and interpret this concept through a range of stories, which involve different genres: short stories, novels, movies, paintings, even music. Throughout our journey we are going to travel in the past, just to see how writers of different eras envisioned the future creating engaging stories of utopia and dystopia. Students will be required to open their minds to incredible ideas and also to examine them through critical lenses. To achieve my objective I decided to use utopian and dystopian literature as the basis of our discussions. Students are going to learn how to react to new and often alien concepts by understanding them so that they can make a decision whether to accept or dismiss them based on educated evaluation.

Unit introduction: getting to know our present day society

Sort of as a prolonged Activating Strategy, I am going to ask my students to watch the news, browse the internet or read newspapers to follow current events. When they find something interesting, exciting, disturbing, puzzling or for any reason worthwhile to share, they are encouraged to bring it to class. (This “collecting” stage will last at least three weeks, because as of now my students haven’t been interested in current news, so I have to make sure that they have ample information and a higher interest level by the time we start the unit.) We are going to create a bulletin board to display the articles, pictures and ads they provide. I am going to participate as well, making sure that we have lots of different issues worth discussion that would lead up to our unit. These discussions will hopefully touch upon topics like natural disasters, population issues, urbanization, economic inequality, racism, sexism, war and peace, crime, issues in the family unit, education and politics. I will make sure that there is a healthy balance between stories that depict our society in a positive and a negative way. Sad news items tend to comprise the majority of news programs or newspapers.

The objective of these discussions is to raise awareness of the positive and negative features of our present lives. We are going to put the articles into different categories to find out the main factors that determine social well-being. The students are going to evaluate today’s society regarding the factors they established. The anticipated categories will be: economy, education, freedom, political structure, family life, transportation, entertainment, jobs, nature, living conditions, safety and technology. Students will be working in groups to evaluate their assigned categories. They will be given an evaluation guide with questions to help them think about each factor, but they are also welcome to add their own comments from their point of view.

To follow up, we are going to have a panel meeting where each team will present their factor and the results of their evaluation, on which the other teams will reflect. After the discussion my students will create a chart in which they enumerate the positive and negative features of each category and they have to predict the course of the future regarding that category based on the present state. Honestly, I can’t wait to see the results of this activity. I am almost tempted to try this out with the staff at the school just to be able to compare the outcome.

Idiocracy

The activity described above was the intro to the movie titled “Idiocracy”. As an Activating Strategy I am going to show the students the poster of the movie, which depicts Leonardo da Vinci’s famous drawing, The Vitruvian Man. I am going to show them the original picture too, so that they can make better predictions as to what the movie might be about. At this point I am not revealing the title of the movie so that they feel more challenged. They will be able to further elaborate on their expectations after I showed them the title of the movie. In case you haven’t seen the movie, it is set in the future about 500 years from now. We get to explore the society and the problems they are facing through the adventures of an “average American” who woke up in that future society after a botched hibernation experiment. The movie is mostly funny on the surface and the students will enjoy it. It will be interesting to see if they are able to connect its main idea to our previous discussion.

To accompany the movie I will have three sets of questions. The first set will be an anticipation survey, which I will hand out right after the scene where Joe Bauers, the main character, wakes up. I am interested in what the students think Joe will find in the future. The second set of questions will be the “while you watch” type of questions. I will stop the movie at certain times where students will have to make an inference, a prediction or analyze conflict. The third set of questions come after the movie and will require students to evaluate what they saw. They will also be asked to reflect on the answers they gave to the first set of question and evaluate the accuracy of their predictions. We are going to have a group discussion about how they felt about the society and the problems depicted in the movie.

The final activity of this section is to use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast our society and the one shown in the movie. As homework they are asked to write an essay that answers the question: Are there any signs in our present society that might indicate that we are headed towards Idiocracy?

Utopia

In this section of the unit we are going back to the past and first look at the origins of utopia. We are going to talk about the first utopias (these were not called utopias at the time, since the genre was officially invented by Thomas More), like Ovid’s Golden Age and Greek myths. Students will think about possible reasons that led to the birth of utopias. To deepen their understanding students are going to read about specific utopian stories in teams and then summarize them for the rest of the class. They will sometimes encounter astonishing ideas, like the lack of the institution of marriage in a utopia by Aristophanes.

After having defined utopia (“a nonexistent society described in detail and normally placed in time and place”7) we are going to make a distinction between eutopias and dystopias. Eutopia is considered an obsolete word, and nowadays the expression ‘positive utopia’ is used to refer to the type of utopia that depicts a society that is better than the society the reader/writer lives in. A dystopia or a negative utopia is what it suggests: a society that is not preferable to the one the reader/writer lives in. I find this topic fascinating because of all the possibilities and creativity involved. I would like to present my students with multiple examples, but since our time for this unit is limited, I have to resort to some modifications. Instead of reading the stories in whole, the students are going to be given summaries and excerpts of some of the most famous utopias and utopian societies from the past. (I am not giving a complete list of these here, because every one of us has his or her favorite ones to choose from; however, if I may recommend one, the society of classical Sparta is a gem.)

Fahrenheit 451

To continue our voyage in the land of utopias we are going to visit the realm of science fiction since some of the books and short stories we are reading in this unit have science fiction elements. It is also an introduction to our novel study.

First I am showing a trailer from one of the most well-known science fiction movies, Star Wars (keeping in mind that my students might not be familiar with some lesser known ones) and ask them to identify some features that help them determine the genre of the movie. During the discussion we are going to come up with a definition for science fiction and compare it to Asimov’s definition. In the next activity students will have to find evidence for the excerpts shown from science fiction movies and stories.

After this the students will learn about the history of science fiction to familiarize themselves with some of the most significant writers and types of science fiction literature. At this point I make sure to point out that contrary to what my students always tell me: science fiction is not “fake”. I will draw their attention to the original ideas of Jules Verne that are reality today and encourage them to find other examples for visionary ideas in the stories we are going to read.

Before actually starting to read Fahrenheit 451, I have a lesson about the 1950s, in which I show clips about life in that decade (commercials, videos of rock performances, recordings of then current events) so that they can have an idea in what environment Ray Bradbury wrote the book. After the discussion and viewing the students will make a Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences between the 50s and today.

This will be followed by actually reading the novel. Since this is going to be the first book with challenging language and ideas for my ESL students, we are going to read it together, frequently stopping to check understanding and to discuss new or confusing ideas. They will be required to take notes in a three column graphic organizer of the similarities and differences between our present world and the world depicted in the novel throughout their reading experience. Keeping in mind that my students will have to take the dreaded end of course exam, we are going to address content objectives too: we are going to examine plot structure, character development and motivation, the creation of suspense, irony, tone and mood. Ray Bradbury’s rich narrative lends itself to extensive discussions of the use of imagery and sensory language too.

As sort of a culminating project my students will have to write an essay about how they think the movie Idiocracy and the book Fahrenheit 451 can be compared.

Utopia outside literature

This section of the unit will be an “out-of-curriculum” experience. Students will be introduced to utopia in different fields of art: visual arts, music, dancing, acting and (yes!) culinary arts. Art is a fascinating area to explore utopia in. We can easily get lost in its infinite means of expressions and the countless interpretations. Talking about art is very liberating for our students because they cannot really be wrong in their reactions to a piece of art or music. Who is it to say that they relate to it the wrong way? My students love talking about abstract paintings, guessing what the painting can depict or what the title is. Deciding whether a picture is utopian or not depends greatly on our inner expectations and schema of the world. To decide whether a piece of art is utopian or not, we can go back to our definition of utopia: if it depicts a detail of a nonexistent society, it is utopian. Again, nonexistent to our knowledge, so if a student has no knowledge of that particular aspect, he or she might decide on something being utopian even if it isn’t. I would say we should not worry about it too much, rather let them enjoy the experience of free thinking without the stress of having to give the right answer.

So what my students will do here is a gallery walk where they have a chance to react to different pieces of art: paintings, sculptures, buildings, pictures of meals, music clips, short clips of theatrical performances and performance artists. These “artifacts” will be exhibited around the classroom on laptops. Students can take their time enjoying the experience and take notes of their thoughts and feelings about the items. They will be asked to try to decide whether these pieces show elements of utopia, and then explain why they think so. When they are done walking around they will sit around a table and we will have our feedback session while having some cookies and tea, since that’s how a discussion should happen in my utopian school.

After this class I do not feel it right to give a real homework, so I will just ask my students to keep their eyes and minds open and whenever they come across something they consider utopian, bring it to class and let the others know about it.(All right, I might offer some extra credit as an incentive.)

Utopia and dystopia in short stories

In this section of the unit students will take instruction in their own hands. I will present a number of short stories from which they will have to pick the one they are going to present to the class. They can work individually or in pairs. Since my class is not big, I would not prefer groups so that we can have more stories to hear and discuss. Some of the short stories my students may choose from are: “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, “The Machine Stops” by E. M. Forster, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, “The Punishment of Luxury” by Michael Carson, “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury and “We Ate the Children Last” by Yann Martel.

The students will have to read their stories and get ready to present them. They have to do some research about the writer and the time the short story was written in. It is important that the students know the circumstances in which the story was born so that they can fully grasp its significance. Then the students will summarize the story, identify its theme and analyze what characteristics make it a utopian or dystopian short story. They also have to come up with some questions for the audience to inspire a conversation about the message of the story. They can choose the form of the presentation, but since using technology for creating a product is an expectation, they need to utilize one of the following methods: Power Point presentation, Prezi, or Toondoo.

After the presentations we are going to evaluate the short stories in terms of relevance to our society and to our lives. Students will have to decide on their favorite story and explain why their choice fell on that specific one. In my experience my students find it challenging to give reasons for their likes and dislikes, so I encourage them to explore what triggers their preferences.

Anthem

I have chosen Ayn Rand’s book as our second novel in this unit because it paints a peculiar picture of the future that would hopefully spark some lively discussions. The story is set in the far-away future, after the “Great Rebirth” when people “saw the Great Truth which is that all men are one and that there is no will save the will of all men together”; in a time when “I” is a punishable word and instead of names, people are called by numbers. The juxtaposition of two ideologies, individualism and communism creates interesting dynamics throughout the novel.

The introduction to this novel will be a lesson in ideology so that the students can understand why Rand’s novel is so controversial. Having been brought up in Russia, Rand was a witness to some of the harsh actions taken as the first stage of communism was about to come to life. Her family lost the business that previously provided for them. That most certainly influenced her view of communism, which she summarizes in the following quote: “The Communists’ chief purpose is to destroy every form of independence—independent work, independent action, independent property, independent thought, an independent mind, or an independent man. Conformity, alikeness, servility, submission and obedience are necessary to establish a Communist slave-state.”8

In order to clarify the true nature of communism (the ideology and not the misrepresentations of it that we have seen in Russia, Cuba, North Korea, China or Vietnam), the students will be given a chance to learn not only about the Marxist theory but its early predecessors as well. My students will set on yet another journey to trace back the appearance of communistic ideas in works like Plato’s The Republic and Thomas Moore’s Utopia. We are going to explore the pros and cons of a classless society before turning to objectivism, the philosophy that Rand created based on her strong belief in the importance of the freedom and independence of the individual.

While reading the novel the students will have ongoing tasks. In a graphic organizer they are going to keep track of the different institutions this future society has. They will have to record what function each one serves and evaluate if we have something similar to it, or whether we could use one if we do not. Students will also keep a pro and con diary in which they will take notes about the features they like or dislike in this fictional world.

To make the novel study a bit more realistic and to bring Rand’s imaginary society closer to the students, they are going to be involved in some experimental activities. One activity will address the lack of career choice. I will come up with a list of jobs in and around the classroom, like cleaners, messengers, announcers and scribes, just to mention a few. The students will write down their preferences. The next day I am going to act as the Council of Vocations and assign jobs to the students, but of course not everybody will be happy with my choice. I want them to discuss their experience during and after the process and think about the implications of not being able to choose a career. I am going to take this activity a step further and get them think about their future: they will have to make a plan that would ensure them to be able to choose the profession they want when the time comes.

In another class, to experience the monotony of the life depicted in the novel, students will be asked to wear the same color T-shirt for a few days and the lessons will follow the same pattern too. This will be an introduction to a discussion about identity and individualism.

In another experiment we are going to eliminate the word “I” and all the other first person pronouns. We are going to play this game for one class period and give out “penalties” for the “transgressors”. The person with the fewest “transgressions” will get a prize. The next day we are going to do the same activity but the prohibited words will be all the first person plural pronouns. I would like this activity to generate a conversation about which task was easier and what they think the reason is.

After having read the novel the students will have to evaluate Rand’s society by making a SWOT analysis of it.

Utopian communities

As we are approaching the end of this unit, I wanted to bring my students’ attention to some alternative mini-societies that exist today. I included the topic of intentional communities, partly to fight their reaction “It’s fake”, whenever unknown and hard-to-imagine ideas are presented to them, and partly to show them that choosing another path is possible. We are going to explore the many reasons for which these communities can come about and find the causes of the growing number of these communities. Next the students are going to get a closer look at two historically rooted but still functioning utopian communities, the Amish and the Hutterites. I have chosen these particular ones because they have long lasting traditions, they are well-established and have certain common features with the society that was depicted in Anthem.

The students will work in two groups and will be given a set of criteria for their research. They will need to collect information on different aspects of life in those communities. The groups will be responsible to divide the task among themselves, but in the end each group member needs to have all the information. When they compiled all the necessary information, the members of the two groups need to pair up and share the information they gathered so that they can compare and contrast the two utopian communities. Their product will be a Glogster poster, which is a very creative, interactive way for posting information.

As a closing activity we are going to have a discussion about the similarities between

these communities and Rand’s society in the Anthem, touching upon the question of the distance between fiction and reality.

Final project

Here we are at the most unpredictable, and for this reason, probably the most exciting part of the unit. This is also the part where students can shine their strength that they otherwise wouldn’t in a class that mostly focuses on verbal activities. Students will be able to improve their organizational, leadership and problem-solving skills. They will practice how to manage their own project, delegate tasks, negotiate, come to consensus, make group decisions and all the other skills that are necessary in a project-based activity.

The students will form small groups of three or four to create a project that presents their perfect society. During the unit our main focus was on dystopian societies, so I want to direct their attention towards a positive vision. I will encourage them to go wild with their ideas and use their imagination without limitations. Since creating all aspects of a society in details would need much more time than what we can actually afford to spend on this section on the unit, the expectations will be the following. The groups have to determine when and where their society exists, identify what the ideology is behind their society and describe it in general terms, emphasizing its differences from our present society. They should include descriptions of different aspects of life, like recreation, environment, education, work, technological advancement, health, financial issues, family life and relationships. After the general overview they need to pick one aspect and give a very detailed presentation of that. I want to encourage my students to go deep into the topic and be circumspect about it by examining the matter from multiple angles.

The delivery of the presentation will be their choice. They can present it in a traditional way using poster boards, or write a story, draw or paint pictures or perform it in a play. They are also welcome to choose from more contemporary delivery methods using computer technology. There are numerous websites that offer creative forms of presentation. One of them is Animoto, with which students can create a slide show of photos. Another website is Toondoo where students can create comic strips. Voicethread promotes a cooperative approach and uses different delivery methods: video, audio, doodling or attachments. The above-mentioned methods would probably be more time-consuming and require a lot of thinking as to how to convey all the information the students need to share about their society, so I will remind them of the good old Power Point presentation and its more mobile version Prezi, as well as (at least for me) the most interesting presentation tool: Glogster. This is a very colorful and versatile tool for compiling information in all formats: music, pictures and documents can be embedded and posted in an innovative way.

Another option for them to present their utopia is to make a boardgame. Honestly, I do hope that at least one group will decide on this method. This would be the most interactive way to get to know their society since the other students can be the characters who get to live by the new rules (or “unrules,” who knows?).

It will be very interesting to see what aspects of our present lives will appear similar or would completely disappear in the utopian societies the groups create. I am also curious to find out how much they will be influenced by the stories we read and the different societies we read about.

Conclusion

I hope that my students will enjoy this unit as much I will enjoy teaching it and also that they will take away some ideas that can help them shape their lives. Bradbury will teach them that sometimes rules can be bad and need to be broken. Ayn Rand will make them realize that if we take ideologies to the extreme that can lead to a miserable world. The movie Idiocracy might warn them about the dangers of an ignorant society and make them think about initiating change. The short stories and art pieces can make them realize that being creative and using their imagination can open up new horizons. They can actually try out their potentials by creating something new.

The cross-curricular nature of this unit gives each student a chance to find what he or she is most interested in and to discover new fields of study that a student might want to focus on. The students get an introduction to philosophy, sociology, psychology and will achieve a deeper understanding of different eras of history. By looking into the past they obtain the necessary knowledge to reevaluate the present and get prepared for the future they actively create. Now.

This novel describes a society where the individual disappears and everything is done for and with the community.

15. Idiocracy (2006)

A movie I used to explore different aspects of our present day and any future society.

s New g,?9n;p?`??2626′>

Opportunities via Wealth

Outliers also gives many examples about how growing up in a household with a high socio-economic status can contribute to a person’s success. Not only does having the means to afford special schooling and access to a wide range of extra-curricular activities give a child an upper-hand, but children from these households often times acquire a certain skill-set that makes them more successful socially. As a class we discuss Gladwell’s arguments, evaluating their validity, and then extend this further. I pose questions about class and society. I also try to bring in current events when possible. This year I chose to listen to an NPR podcast about the Occupy Wall Street protests and then contrast that with Herman Cain’s reaction to the protestors. I used the podcast titled “Wall Street Protests Stretch On, Reasons Vary” from October 3, 2011,[36] and the CBS News report on Herman Cain’s reaction to the protestors titled “Cain: Wall St. protestors playing victim card” posted online October 9, 2011.[37] Students discuss power, money, class systems, and politics. After examining these two articles, I have students engage in a thought experiment where they debate whether or not they would share their GPA points with fellow students. The same issues are brought up, but in a context that hits a little closer to home because grades and GPA’s determine their “rank” within the academic setting. Another text that might be helpful in furthering this discussion is Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, specifically the last chapter titled, “Evaluation.”[38]

And the Survey Begins …

Now that I have laid the foundation by asking students to question and reevaluate their views on relevant topics, stressing the idea that reading is a form of research where we are trying to make sense of the world we live in, we are ready to begin our study of canonical American literature. Of course I begin with early American literature, the primary focus being texts influenced by Puritanism. To introduce characteristics of the various literary time periods, I give students what I call primary source packets. Their objective is to study the representative texts of that literary time period and characterize the literature through inferences backed by evidence from the texts. This reinforces the concept of viewing reading as a form of research and gives students a reason to study these texts—the packets are artifacts revealing what that literary time period was like. In the Puritan primary source packet, I include two Anne Bradstreet Poems, “Huswifery” by Edward Taylor, an excerpt from “The Trial of Martha Carrier,” an excerpt of the New England Primer, and the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards. The research questions I ask students to consider, after they have already answered a few comprehension questions for each text, are adapted from a SpringBoard lesson in the Level 6 book. The questions ask students to draw conclusions about the society’s view of God, philosophies of education, work ethic, view of success, definition of the American Dream, values, view of authority, definition of truth, view of society, and whether or not they believe man is inherently good or evil. Students gain a holistic perspective of what writers were concerned with during this time period, and I tie up any loose ends by sharing my conclusions in the form of brief notes—this is where they compare their “research” to mine. The goal of this activity is to uncover the ideologies informing the literature of the time period. Students need the context and perspective in order to accurately analyze the literature and topics. From here, we proceed to study Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.

Witch Hunts, Communism, Mass Hysteria (and all that other fun stuff)

During our study of The Crucible, I pose three questions that fuel our discussions and give students a focus for their annotations:

What is the nature of authority?

What is hysteria? How is it created? What fuels it? What impact does it have on society?

What types of people does society tend to criticize and alienate? Why? Do we see this only in America or globally?

I also give my students another primary source packet that includes an excerpt from the book You Can Trust the Communists (to be Communists),[39] six political cartoons published in 1950’s US newspapers, an excerpt of the Communist Control Act of 1954, and Arthur Miller’s article “Are You Now or Were You Ever?”[40] This packet allows students to understand the world Arthur Miller was living in while he wrote and published The Crucible.[41] As we read and discuss all of these texts, students draw conclusions about the various time periods, examine how authors were trying to convey meaning, and question the ideologies that support student and authorial interpretations as we try to answer the three questions. This happens in the form of seminar-style class discussions, small-group activities, and print and non-print comparisons. At this point, I also begin discussing what theory is and introduce Marxist literary theory. I facilitate a discussion of how we have been theorizing as a class when we ask big questions about our world and those of our authors, examine the texts and our world for answers, and draw conclusions. We make some connections between our previous discussions of power, class, money, politics and Marxist theories. I also use question three to plant a seed for future discussions of gender issues and feminist literary criticism. Students always notice that women are targeted in The Crucible, but have trouble answering ‘why’? They can identify and describe what types of people were targeted during “The Red Scare” and in their daily lives at school, but it takes a little longer to deliberate the reasons why. At this point, many students are becoming more comfortable with the concept that there are rarely “right” answers or one truth present in the text, or the world for that matter. They understand that we must grapple with the uncertainties and show concern when we believe that there are no other possible answers. I give reading quizzes and conclude with a test. The test asks students to write two essays based on their choice of two of the four questions listed. The questions deal with the nature of authority, hysteria, sacrifices necessary to restore social order, and the author’s treatment of women—all questions that relate directly to our focus of study.

We Wear the Mark

By the time we begin reading The Scarlet Letter, students are ready to begin posing their own questions about the text.[42] I encourage my students to continue thinking about the nature of authority and why we have a tendency to alienate or dismiss certain types of people, but I place the responsibility of initiating and facilitating the inquiry process into the hands of the students. This happens by way of a structured discussion on an online forum. Each year I create courses on a free online program called Schoology and require my students to enroll in my courses. Schoology looks and operates very much like Facebook, so it is appealing and user-friendly. I know as teachers we are always asked to try a ridiculous amount of “new tools,” but honestly, this is one of the most user-friendly programs I have ever encountered. This program is safe and I keep it private between classes. Parents can get the class access code and see the work that is being done online. Through this program, there is an easy way for me to set up a discussion where students can post analyses and respond to other students’ postings. I got the idea for my online discussion from an English course I took in college. The idea and design of the online assignments are taken almost word-for-word from an assignment given to me at Furman University by Dr. William E. Rogers in his course on British and American Literature to 1798, in the fall of 2004, and I want to make sure he receives this credit. Students are assigned one section of The Scarlet Letter to analyze and are required to respond to three analyses posted by other students. Analyses are 250 words and must accomplish these three things (this is part of the handout I give to my students):

The analysis should clearly identify a non-trivial interpretive problem in the text you are assigned. That is, it should explain why you find some particular aspect of the text difficult to understand. This interpretive problem should not be a problem that is susceptible to an easy solution—for example, a problem you can solve just by looking up a word that you did not know. Instead, it should be a problem that you expect to create disagreement among thoughtful readers of the text.

The analysis should clearly identify possible alternative solutions to the interpretive problem—two or more different ways of reading the text.

The analysis should either explain which solution you accept, and why; or explain clearly why you find it impossible to choose among the alternatives.

This format has worked well for my students because it gives them enough structure to produce a substantive analysis while at the same time leaving it open to anything they find to be significant in the text. Other students respond to the analyses, thus a thoughtful student-generated discussion ensues. Responses must be around 100 words and agree or disagree with the interpretations presented in the analysis, or offer a new interpretation altogether; however, each response must also include at least one new piece of textual evidence to back up the student’s claim. Responses do not count toward their total if they are deemed unsatisfactory, and students are required to post a new analysis for a reduced grade if it does not meet the standard. Students are responsible for reading all posts each night so they are prepared for our class discussions. I give students examples of my old analyses and responses so they have a model for structure, length, and content. I use their postings to drive my instruction because I acquire a good grasp of what students know and what they need by reading their posts.

Through these posts, students naturally address many literary elements, the hypocrisy, the narrator’s attitude toward the subject, color, symbolism, the nature of authority, alienation; the fact that Hester, a woman, is viciously criticized by the society but portrayed differently by the narrator; and most obviously that Hester is marked. This text is a great way for us to continue our discussion of gender that we began with The Crucible. I begin introducing supplemental texts and activities to get students thinking about gender, and very quickly they are drawing conclusions about gender and its role in society. We read Deborah Tannen’s essay “There is No Unmarked Woman.”[43] Although it was published in 1993, students mostly agree that it is still relevant today, if not more so than it was back then. Tannen’s use of the word “marked” immediately invites students to make connections between the ‘A’ worn by Hester Prynne. I don’t discourage these connections, but I also make sure that students don’t oversimplify what each text, especially that of Tannen’s, is trying to convey. After examining Tannen’s argument, I have students get into small groups and brainstorm the “unwritten rules and expectations” for each gender. I ask my students to take this seriously and be honest—I don’t want the stereotypes unless that is actually what they witness in their day-to day lives. We find that as a society, we have not come all that far, in some cases, from the 1600’s. This is the point where I ask students to begin examining why we play into these gender roles ultimately living the narratives that have been written for us by society, and then to consider what consequences transpire.

Identity Crisis: “A Boy Named Sue”

The word ‘feminist’ scares many people, male students especially. I think it is best to have students explore gender issues before I even utter the phrase feminist literary criticism for two reasons: 1) it follows my philosophy of prioritizing the discovery of new material, and 2) I don’t want to disengage my students by presenting a term that, for them, carries negative or irrelevant connotations. I also do not want to limit the discussion of gender to that of the female gender. Throughout the year, I will open the door for students to examine issues surrounding male and female gender roles as well as force them to consider the challenges of not fitting into either category. Most of our texts for the first half of the school year call into question the female gender, so sometimes an entertaining way to bring up the ideologies shaping the male gender role is to listen to Johnny Cash’s version of “A Boy Named Sue.” This song advances the notion that texts may equally reinforce or explore the expectations of men. After we have surveyed our own ideas about gender and the treatment of gender in our texts, I introduce feminist literary criticism.

The rest of the school year will follow the same routines I have established here in this unit, with gender and power issues being a major focus in our course of study. Students will continue to study primary sources—representative texts—from each literary time period to build context. Students will initiate inquiry and investigate possible answers as they analyze a variety of texts through the online postings, seminars, regular class discussions, and collaborative activities. I will continue to pose over-arching “big questions” that anticipate important concepts students will encounter during their readings. Some examples of the works I will use include:

Major Works

The Awakening—Kate Chopin

Their Eyes Were Watching God—Zora Neale Hurston

The Great Gatsby—F. Scott Fitzgerald

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest—Ken Kesey

Minor Works

“The Great Lawsuit”—Margaret Fuller

“The Yellow Wallpaper”—Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass—Frederick Douglass

Appleman, a former high school English teacher, discusses the significance of teaching literary theory in the secondary classroom. She outlines her rationale, citing many well-known educators in the profession, while also including examples of activities she used her classroom. The article includes student samples.

This book argues the need for constructivist classrooms, discussing the guiding principles of constructivism and how a teacher might go about establishing a constructivist classroom. Constructivism focuses on cultivating a student-centered classroom that prioritizes student’s needs, student-inquiry, collaboration, authentic assessment, and relevancy.

Calder, Lendol. “Uncoverage: Toward a Signature Pedagogy of the History Survey.” The Journal of American History 92, no. 4 (2006): 1358-1370.

Lendol Calder talks about how and why he works toward establishing a signature pedagogy in his History survey course. A signature pedagogy bucks the “fact-first” approach to teaching and chooses to operate under three assumptions of best practice: students have meaningful, important questions that should be addressed; students need routines for successful practice; and students need to collaborate on a regular basis, both whole-class and in small groups.

Kincheloe, Joe L.. Critical pedagogy primer. New York: P. Lang, 2004.

Kincheloe discusses the basis for critical pedagogy, what it looks like in the classroom, and how it supports a certain view of cognitive processes. This book echoes many issues brought up the Brooks book on constructivism listed above, but its primary focus is on how teachers and students need to seek social and educational justice by examining and questioning the power structures that have shaped our curriculum and society as well as marginalized certain groups.

Myers walks through many of the common approaches to teaching literary theory, pointing out the major flaws and misinterpretations while also highlighting some insight that might be gleaned from each approach. Midway through the article, the focus shifts from a description of what teaching literary theory is not to what it is. Ultimately, the article suggests that theory cannot be taught, but rather it is a practice—a way of knowing—and describes what that looks like in the academic setting.

Melissa Troise, a high school English teacher, warns teachers about the risks of only asking students to examine literature from one perspective, that of New Criticism, year after year in the English classroom. Her article discusses the value of introducing literary criticism, offering students different “lenses” for analyzing a text. This article is very practical in that it offers detailed examples of how she uses literary theory in her classroom, giving the reader specific ideas for a variety of texts and student writing samples.

Student Resources

Most of the student texts are described throughout the unit, and the list of major and minor works at the end of the unit are generally recognized to be part of the canon by those who study American literature. Here I have elaborated on just a few of the other texts mentioned in the narrative.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Evaluation.” In Nickel and dimed: on (not) getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2001. 193-221.

This book catalogs a journalist’s journey into the depths of America’s working class environment. Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover to reveal what it is really like to make a living off of minimum wage. The book is eye opening for most students because very many of them have never experienced anything like what she recounts. It is a very honest depiction of class struggle in contemporary America.

This article shocks many students because its discussion of grading—practices, flaws, alternatives—is typically not something they have questioned or examined from this perspective. It asks them to challenge the system they have blindly adopted out of ritual compliance.

Classroom Materials

Daybooks—composition notebooks for responding to questions in class, organizing ideas, and any general writing or note taking I would like students to complete.

Schoology—the free online program used for the online discussion. This can also be used to post announcements to class, post assignments, post important class documents, administer online quizzes or tests, or give feedback on electronic copies of papers. You can set up your account by accessing www.schoology.com.

Technology for podcasts and streaming TED Talk videos—you will need technology of some sort that is connected to a screen, computer with Internet, and speakers. TED Talks, like the one mentioned in the unit, as well as NPR podcasts and YouTube videos are a very powerful way of capturing your audience and helping your students make connections between texts.

Candle Problem Cards—if you choose to conduct your own “Candle Problem” experiment, I recommend making your own cards after assessing what resources you have available to you and researching what is available online in terms of common-use images. I find that the picture is sufficient for my students to begin solving the problem, but you may want to get candles, boxes, and tacks and just leave out the part where they actually attach it to the wall.

Appendix—Implementing District Standards

As a district, we are transitioning to the Common Core National Standards.[44] The Common Core standards as follows are not the only ones addressed by the unit but serve as the primary focus for activities presented here. Most of these standards are practiced daily in some form whether it takes place in or out of class. The parenthetical at the end of each standard denotes which section and number of standards I am addressing for those teachers that are familiar with the Common Core.

Students will cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of text. (RL 1)

Students will determine two or more themes or central ideas and discuss how they are developed throughout the text. (RL/RI 2)

Students will analyze multiple interpretations. (RL 7)

Students will examine and compare texts from various literary time periods and analyze their treatment of similar topics and themes. (RL 9)

Students will determine the author’s point of view and analyze the rhetoric for its effectiveness, paying close attention to how the style and content contribute to the text’s power and beauty. (RI 6)

Students will integrate and evaluate multiple sources to help them address questions and solve problems. (RI 7)

Students will write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics and texts, using valid reasoning and sufficient and relevant evidence. (W 1)